BWIA wants co-operation, not single regional carrier Guardian Some Caricom Governments may have re-energised their call for a single regional airline, but BWIA has applied the brakes on the idea. "I don't think it is a practical solution at this time," said BWIA chief executive officer Conrad Aleong on Monday. "We think functional co-operation, functional integration, rather than a merger of companies is the right way to go." Aleong was speaking to reporters after a BWIA press conference with International Air Transportation Association Director General Giovanni Bisignani. As a condition of the State's US $13.5 million loan to the airline, BWIA must allow consultants to advise it on an appropriate operational structure including the concept of a regional carrier. Bisignani said mergers are not always the way to go. "You know the worst thing is when you say let's merge. One disappears, the other remains there." Consolidation, he said, was a better solution. This would involve a system where each airline runs a different aspect of the operations of its partners. Aleong noted the consolidation concept is not foreign to the Caribbean. "Maybe all the carriers can put in one maintenance company and then do all the maintenance for all the carriers. We considered an accounting company for all the accounting for all the airlines." Aleong denied reports that Air Jamaica chairman Butch Stewart did not want to co-operate with BWIA and Liat. "I think what Butch is against and probably the Jamaican government as well," he said, "is the integration of the two carriers into a merger like a financial merger." The Government has expressed its desire for one Caribbean carrier. Last November, Transport Minister Franklyn Khan said Caribbean governments can no longer continue to provide State funds for struggling regional airlines and stressed, "Our goal of a single regional carrier must become a reality." BWIA, Liat and Air Jamaica have all been losing money since the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. All three are partly funded by various Caribbean Governments. "When you start losing money," Aleong said, "and go on losing money, at a certain point you will find no Government that will be able to fund those amounts of money forever if it's not for an emergency." The airlines, said Bisignani, must begin coming up with their own ideas for self-sufficiency and success. Aleong did not totally shoot down the single regional carrier concept but said what is more likely to occur in the immediate future is a the kind of partnership BWIA has with Liat. "We do reservations handling for Liat, which has saved Liat a lot of costs, because you pay people in TT dollars to have the calls where you were paying them in EC dollars," Aleong said. BWIA has a 29 per cent share interest in Liat. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.hilofoodstores.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************